Various high-speed in-line mailing systems and methods have been employed in the past for processing of sheet material or articles such as paper sheets, documents, and the like. Such high-speed in-line mailing systems prepare mailable articles such as bills, account statements, etc. High-speed in-line mailing systems process and prepare the mailable articles with a plurality of devices selected from cutters, register tables, accumulators, folders, collectors, and inserters.
In known mailing systems, a series of groups of documents are accumulated from a web of sheet material on which individual sheets are pre-printed. The web of sheet material can include indicia pre-printed in at least one disposable margin of a control document for each group of documents. A reader accepts sheet material and reads for each group the pre-printed indicia. The pre-printed indicia contain coded instructions for processing the group associated with the control document on which the indicia are printed. Such instructions include, for example, the number of and order of sheets in a particular group. The reader may comprise an optical mark reader, a bar-code reader, or other known indicia-reading devices. Instructions read by the reader are passed to a central processor, where they are used to control processing equipment downstream from the reader. A control panel is provided for allowing operator-control of basic functions, such as start, stop, run, jog, and reset.
The web of sheet material then passes through a cutter which cuts the continuous web into a series of individual sheets. The sheets are then fed to an accumulator, which accumulates a stream of sheets in a stack until the last sheet to be associated with the stack is delivered thereto, at which time the completed stack is ejected and accumulation of the next stack begins. The number and order of sheets in an individual stack are controlled by the accumulator according to instructions read by the reader from the control document.
The stack of documents ejected from the accumulator are accepted by a folder, which folds a stack into letter size (i.e. two-fold, tri-fold, etc.) and deposits into collector. The collector, once it has received a proper number of folded completed sets according to the instructions read from the control document, delivers the completed set of documents onto a track. The track is often a conventional raceway conveyor for delivery of the completed sets.
A completed set of documents first passes an in-track detector which senses the presence of the completed set in the track and sends a document-in-track signal to a microprocessor as a control signal for control of processing along the track. The in-track detector may comprise a photocell or other conventional sensing device. A CRT and keyboard can be provided adjacent the track for allowing a machine operator to interface with the machine. The completed set then passes a series of detectors, including infrared-type. Each detector senses whether the group contains more than a certain preset number of documents. The detectors are each preset to successive trip-levels, and each detector is tripped if the number of documents in a passing group is higher than that detector's preset trip level. The microprocessor receives signals from the detectors and from the reader, and compares those signals to determine whether the number of documents as measured by the detectors exceeds the expected number in that group as read by the reader from the group's control document. If the measured number exceeds the expected number, the microprocessor performs a series of steps which allow for correction of the error.
Upon detecting an error condition, the microprocessor executes a machine fault, thereby halting the machine cycle, and sends an error signal to the CRT, the error signal serving to alert the machine operator of the error and to convey information such as the expected number and the measured number. When the error has been cleared by the machine operator, the operator removes the error from machine fault mode by actuating a switch on the control panel, thereby restarting the machine cycle. In other known methods, the central processor does not halt the machine cycle upon detection of an excess in the number of documents, but rather sends a signal to an error-remediation mechanism downstream from the detectors. The error-remediation mechanism may comprise a divert mechanism for diverting the group-in-error to a divert area for error remediation. The latter method allows for uninterrupted machine operation.
A complete set traveling along the track passes one or more insert processing stations. Each of these stations selectively adds inserts to a group in a known manner according to various criteria, and may comprise “gripper-arm” type inserters or other known inserters. The group of documents is inserted into an awaiting envelope at an insertion station, after which the envelope flap is closed at a flap closer. The closed envelope is turned over and deposited onto a delivery table for removal from the machine.
In other known mailing systems, a stack of documents ejected from the accumulator are accepted by a folder, which folds a stack into letter size and deposits it into a collector. The collector, once it has received a proper completed set according to the instructions read from the control document, delivers the completed set of documents onto a raceway conveyor by way of a series of polycords. At a position upstream to the raceway conveyor, a pneumatically activated sheet metal gate is incorporated. The pneumatically driven sheet metal gate is activated following detection of an error in the group. The pneumatically activated sheet metal gate diverts the group-in-error to a divert area over the raceway conveyor. The divert area can be a Plexiglas cover over the raceway that is mounted inverted to act as a catch bin. This known pneumatically activated sheet metal gate allows for uninterrupted system operation.
Accordingly, there remains room for improvement in the art for a divert device and method for deflecting invalid or suspect documents out of a paper pathway prior to their entry onto a raceway conveyor. The divert device should effectively and efficiently remove invalid or suspect documents without having to stop the cycle of the mailing system, thereby increasing productivity.